Quote:
Originally posted by boobmaster
I would argue that the name of the country is 'America'. The word 'America' is a word that defines a continent but it is also used to refer to a country within that continent (as well as to the divided continents of North and South America).
Names are nouns. The head noun of the phrase "United States of America" is the noun "America". The phrase 'United States of America' is an extended name, a descriptive phrase if you will -- the same way that 'The Republic of Macedonia' is the extended name of 'Macedonia'.
Evidence for this: the suffix -an means roughly 'person who lives in country X', where X stands for the country denoted by the root or base word the suffix is attached to. e.g.,
Germany + -an = German = "person who resides in Germany."
Macedonia + -an = Macedonian = "person who resides in Macedonia."
Italy + -an = Italian = "person who resides in Italy."
by analogy ...
America + -an = American = "person who resides in the country, not continent, of America."
Another piece of evidence for this can be summarized in the following way: One of the ways in which the meanings of words change is by either by 'extending' or 'reducing' their frame of reference over time. At one point in the history of English, the word 'hound' ment the same thing that the word 'dog' means today. It referred to the class of dogs in general. Now it refers only to a specific breed of dog. Thus, it's scope of reference has reduced over time. The word 'America' is in the process of doing the same thing, although it still retains both meanings currently - continent AND country.
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not sure what you are trying to prove... we figured out american was in reference to America... the question why Americans (and America)? WHats the story/reasoning behind naming the country like the continent...?